Welcome to the B-Side of the business where you get an inside peek of the backstage area of JDP.

I’m Jasemine, in case you didn’t know. I travel as a photographer, I write novels that I swear are better than my personal instagram narratives , and fashion is my favorite off duty hobby. I live life like a rockstar, and every photoshoot is like performing in my favorite city.

Twisted Tuesday: An Autobiography?

Twisted Tuesday: An Autobiography?

I have decided that every Tuesday from here on out is a “Twisted Tuesday” where I’m not blogging as a blogger or as a photographer but instead as an author. More specifically, the author of my current work on the “Twisted” trilogy which has a book available now!

The most frequently asked question about “Twisted” is if it’s an autobiography. I always lie. I always say “no” or “technically no,” because never in this series outside of thank yous, acknowledgements, italics, or quotes do I ever use the word “I” and using Microsoft Word search engine, I find that the word “Jasemine” makes its appearance twice: once on the first page and once on the last. Simply put, this book isn’t about my life.

A good friend once said that his philosophy as a writer was to “write what you know” and I told him that I agreed. In my first book, “The Final Martini” I wrote what I knew and a lot that I didn’t know. I knew about choice, affairs of the heart and working in a greasy old restaurant, but killing someone? *pulls shirt collar nervously* Yeah, my experience therein is extremely limited. Yet being a horror movie buff, I knew death, fear, etc.

With Twisted, it’s different. In these books, each character goes through things that I can give you dissertations on because I’ve been there. For example, Wayne Douglas is this awkward massively self conscious person. A lot of his internal thinking process comes straight out of mine and I feel comfortable talking about that because being socially anxious is something not a lot of people know that I am. I feel comfortable being able to convey that emotion through Wayne because people will kind of understand my demeanor at parties if they read just the prologue to Twisted Illusions because his outlook is ridiculously accurate in my life. Don’t get me started on Matthew. The things that he’s been through and may/may not continue to go through are written straight from the heart and that’s what sets Twisted apart.

The Story of Chris Harrison And Me

I originally wrote a “jump scene” for the character Chris Harrison. It’s featured in Twisted Illusions and was written in the fall of 2010. I remember I was sitting in my apartment craving a Coolata from Dunkin Donuts less than thirty feet away but I was too lazy to go get it. The sun was shining bright and I was listening to Jason Mraz. That day, I wrote that maybe one guy would come in and punch Chris in the stomach at a party. It would become one of my most influential “write offs” to date.

Fast forward to the summer of 2013. It was July and I was sitting in a Target parking lot waiting for my grandfather when two guys dragged me out of the car, beat me up and left me in the parking lot with a black eye, bruises, crying and alone. I wasn’t on the ground for more than fifteen seconds before I was running through the parking lot, slamming on doors, sobbing. What was crazy was that even after the cops called, the car was found. I still felt dangerously alone. People didn’t believe me. People laughed at me. They talked down to me and constantly jeered me.. I was alone and really confused. Someone even said not to believe me because I was a writer, and they were known for elaborate stories, but it wasn’t a story. It was a nightmare, a real… Life.. nightmare.

A few months later, I was editing and I came across that fight scene. That mediocre punch at a party. My eyes shut and I began to really think about it. I wanted people to be aware of of how empty you feel after something like that happens and how hard it is to relate to any and everyone who hadn’t been through the same thing. I felt like now I could tell people because I knew what it felt like. It was my life on paper.

So Yes, Twisted is Sort Of Like An Autobiography

The purpose of an autobiography is to tell the author’s story and for the most part, I could just tell you that. Yet, when Chris Harrison gets jumped on that dark corner, when Camille Harrison experiences that overwhelming feeling of love for the first time, when they enter certain settings of the book, you actually feel my story. It’s no longer words, it’s tangible in your imagination and to me that’s far more than you’re ever going to get.

There are so many instances in this series where I stopped and wondered if maybe I should change names or calm down. Then I remember the emotion I feel when I wrote that fight scene with Chris and the more I put myself on paper, the better I feel. In Twisted Abandon, I lose all filter. There’s mention of people who I hope and pray will never pick up my book because it’ll be like a confession that they may or may not have ever wanted to hear. It’s kind of like my biography as played by an entire slew of characters. There’s a piece of me on every page. So the answer to your question is yes.. This book is like my autobiography. You’ll read it and learn so much about me.

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Jasemine Denise Photography

I travel as a photographer, I write novels , and I fan girl a lot. I have an unnecessary attachment to all things 80s punk, 90s hip hop, and girl power. I typically write in the same tone that I talk in so you should probably be prepared for that. Just saying.

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[…] The things I put Matthew through in Twisted Abandon… made me cry. Like, more than I cried writing the jump scene of Chris in TI. (I actually wrote a blog about how big of a baby I am getting super attached to my characters) […]